Almost-A-SCAMP Progress Report #2-9C . . . .

[Charles Brennan]

I wanted a metal rub rail for the cabin top grab rail, since when I step the mast it's going to rest on that rail until the mast is stepped and I'm looking for the minimum number of "dings", achievable.
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Got it drilled and fitted; it will get glued on after the fiberglass is applied to the cabin roof.
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Since I will also have halyards and down hauls coming across that strip, I figured why not make it go all the way across, instead of just the center? 

I decided to hang the grab rail vertically, so that when the epoxy drips, it will all end up on one end and save a ton of sanding out drips all along the length, had I positioned it horizontally. 
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Filled in the over-drilled holes.
Absolutely could NOT reach from underneath,    to tape up those holes for filling and had to enlist my wife's help and even then, she just barely made it. 
I tried mightily not to think ahead,    to when I need to apply a couple of washers and 10-24 Nylocks.
Hoping my Grandson is lean enough, limber enough and has long enough arms, to help when the time comes.
Otherwise I may need to start eyeing skinny, limber, kids in the neighborhood;    never a good thing to do, these days! 
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Also got the cabin roof grab rail over-drilled holes filled, then sanded, at the same time.
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Drilled the holes for ¼-20 fasteners, then applied epoxy glue to my grab rail doublers and bolted them in place, temporarily.
The packing tape is so the nuts and washers don't get epoxied in place, permanently. 
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The forward-half view from underneath the cabin roof between bulkheads 2 & 3:
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Check the carriage bolts.
(Foreshadowing.) 

And the back-half view between bulkheads 3 & 4
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Figured: "Great!    Pop the bolts in the morning and then invert the hull, so I can start filleting all the seams on the cabin roof!
Then Sand, Prime, Paint the inside of the roof and Flip it back over and I'm on my way!!"   

The Fates had other Plans. 

The next morning, I couldn't get a good enough grip on the carriage bolt threads, to turn them enough to break free. 
One carriage bolt sheared, which SHOULD have been a warning. 
So I tried to use a hammer to drive them out.
Big Mistake. 
Destroyed two days worth of effort,    in 15 minutes. 

What a difference, a day makes!! 
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Don't know which dismayed me most: Seeing the way the wood let go, or all the surface area that DID let go, due to insufficient adhesion. 

Where the epoxy held, the wood failed before the epoxy did.  Trashed the cabin roof pretty good. 
I'm guessing that seeing 4 of 7 layers of Marine plys exposed, is not a Good Thing. 
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Here, you can see the layer of glue still adhered to the cabin roof; it let go on the doubler side.
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Examining everything closely, I realized I had slowly become a victim of my own success. 
As I had gotten better and better at applying a smooth epoxy finish, I didn't realize how much more I had to rough the surface up, for a good mechanical adhesion. 
Wasn't a problem when I was a Sloppy Beginner; to get the surface half-flat required a lot more grinding, back then.
Never once gave a thought to the ramifications of a smooth, epoxied doubler. 
Took chill comfort, in knowing this was the first time I had tried to glue two shiny surfaces, together.
(Won't be doing THAT, again!!) 
Really shook my confidence in my abilities, at wood composite boat building. 

I spent a few hours considering all the coulda, woulda, shouldas: 
1) Use hex cap nuts with greased threads, instead of carriage bolts.  Simply unscrew them with an impact wrench.
2) Use the heat gun to soften the carriage bolts, so that the bolts wouldn't shear when I tried to turn them with Vise Grip pliers.
3) Leave the hammer in the garage! 
4) Rough up the damn' surface properly, just like the Book SAYS!! 

Ah, well.
Deciding to make lemonade out of the lemon I had just been handed, I cut some new doublers that will fit better and have much better rounded surfaces showing on the cabin side. 
After I had modified the doublers to fit and glued them  up there, I had not been overly happy with their appearance in the cabin. 
Now that I had better known measurements, (the original doublers were made before the roof ever went on)  I was able to make a more custom appearance.
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While I was at it, I also cut some pieces for a project that was supposed to be further down the road.
Those four pieces at left, are to improve the height of the "SCAMP Ramp" so that a water resistant boot can be wrapped around the mast, to keep rainwater from leaking down the mast trunk and into the cabin.
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Got the first coat of epoxy on all the new pieces.
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Got a suggestion from both the designer (John Welsford) and the SCAMP community Guru (Howard Rice, who took my hull from a stack of plywood, to 3-D) to add stiffeners to the bulkhead # 4 sides.
After recently stiffening up floors and benches with fillets, I could now really feel the comparative difference, when I flexed the cabin sides.
I was originally going to let that slide, because it didn't seem all that big of a deal, but that 9 mm plywood DOES move. 

Here's what other builders have done, ranging from simple:
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To ornate:
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To that end, I had scrounged a piece of Mahogany to consider adding a cabin side stiffener; it even had a dado just the right depth for the sides, but I had some other issues with it.
It is said, our boats are just collections of compromises, and there seemed to be a LOT of compromises coming at me, all at once. 
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1) I was going to have to make some plugs to fill in the previously drilled holes. 
2) I was going to have to either varnish, or oil the mahogany rails and I've been trying to make this boat a little more low-maintenance. 
I really didn't look forward to future stripping, sanding, and re-finishing periodically, on something attached to the boat; the teak grab rails can be removed to refinish.
3) I was going to have to cut out a notch for my centerboard cap cover to clear the rail. 
(Check lower left, of pic below.)
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Then it occurred to me,    that I was getting entirely too Fussy and Nautical, again. 
I don't really NEED Nautical Bling and Bright work, all I really NEED, are stiffer cabin sides. 
So, what if I simply turned the rails around and glued them from the inside, filled the holes with epoxy filler and just painted over those gorgeous Mahogany suckers, like the rest of the cabin? 
Right hand side pics, above and below make this a MUCH Better Solution! 
To me, anyway. 
After all, I still have brightly varnished Teak grab rails and will have oiled rub rails, to maintain my Marlin Spike and Bristol Fashion, Street Cred. 
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Put the first coat of epoxy on the rails and I almost second-guessed myself, again.
Painting over nice brightwork-type wood seems vaguely sacrilegious, somehow. 
OTOH, I want to go SAILING, not Varnishing!! 
In my 30's, I might have succumbed, but in my Sunset Years, I take a much more hard-nosed approach to the things that consume my time. 
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Yes, I know you're gorgeous Mahogany boards: DEAL WITH IT. 
(It helps that I acquired that lumber, at an absurdly low price!) 

Got the first coat of epoxy on the other side of the coamings and transom cap and doubler.
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And the 2nd and 3rd coats on, in between cabin grab rail disasters.   
The left over epoxy was used to coat the (newly!)    exposed wood in the cabin roof. 
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See how shiny?!?    Yeah, I'm going to do something about that. 

Truly a set back.     Estimate about a week before I am ready to invert the hull, after all.
And that will put me slightly behind the weather window I was anticipating, since I was hoping to get all the curing and painting stuff done, before it starts getting cold, up here.
Still, I persist!! 
Most of my successes in Life, have been from being too Damn' Dumb, to know when I was WHIPPED!! 

Charles Brennan

[Chris Muthig]

We all have setbacks in projects, like when I had to replace my own water heater, which was built into a room and had to perform major surgery to get it to fit.  Then the plumbing wouldn't fit, so I had to cut new holes in the floor (and plug the old ones).  In cutting the holes I nicked the water feed-in.  OOPS!  It happens to the best of us!

[Wayne Howard]

Every boat owner is looking for a contortionist midget with 12 inch fingers!

I'm working on a wooden project right now that requires the water to stay INSIDE of the project and I have had to empty the tank 3 times so far to find and cover the tiny holes that the water is leaking out through.

I'd post pictures but I can't get the instructions to work for me. 

[Riley Smith]

So...it ain't as bad as installing a CB trunk and once it is cured and totally IN there, discovering that the fit was SO tight that the sides of the centerboard trunk were not in tolerance and the board wouldn't fit. O joy!!! In the end, I had a piece of the bottom HULL to replace to rectify that one. Fun and games. Yeah, about all you can do is try to make lemonade.

[Wolverine]

Some years ago when I was much younger, I crawled inside my boat to remove the transom ladder, rudder housing, and outboard mount. After removing all the nuts and washers I found myself stuck. My wife was grocery shopping, my phone was in the garage, and the afternoon was heating up. I laid there for what felt like hours, occasionally pounding on the hull hoping someone would hear it. I had thoughts of the fire department cutting a hole in the side of the hull to get me out. Eventually I was able to wiggle out feet first. All the perspiration helped lubricate me.

[Captain Kidd]

Oh, man! So sorry. When I installed my trunk, I was so so careful to get it plumb. NOT! Was several degrees off. Terrible! I had to take a multi-tool, cut it on three sides, flex it, and re-epoxy. I did finally get it right.

The Kidd motto: "why do it once, when you can do it twice "

[Riley Smith]

SO I had actually PRACTICED this drill. Had the trunk fabbed and the hull. In and out a dozen times checking things and I decided to include a spacer inside the trunk (think wedge) to keep the dimension true for the CB. Alas, whilst I wasn't looking, one of the gremlins knocked it from it's place and I happily went upon my way screwing and epoxying it where it would NEVER come out, working to a deadline on temp w/ the epoxy. Oh yes. It was NEVER coming out. Had to fab an entire new trunk and bottom, which included cutting the OLD bottom out and doing a scarf. And that meant finding marine plywood in the days when the internet was a baby. O Joy!

[Chris Muthig]

Something that applies to me quite often, "There's 2 ways to do things, right and again."  My other favorite, "There's 3 kinds of people in this world, those who can count, and those who can't."

[Monroe]

MY favorite saying----You don't know what you don't know.

[Riley Smith]

Fast, good,, and cheap. You can have any two!